Picture Made Bigger a Collection Expanded Art Review Nyt January 23 2009

Press release (12 January 2021) from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation:

Pepper Box, John Blowers, Boston, ca. 1741, silver (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, bequest of Joseph and June Hennage).

Theirs was a love story of many dimensions: a beloved for i another, a love of America and its decorative arts, and a love of Colonial Williamsburg. The culmination of Joseph and June Hennage's passion and evidence of their extraordinary philanthropic generosity is the bequest of their unabridged American decorative arts collection, which they amassed over lx years, to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The Hennage Collection is a singular gift that volition transform the already renowned American furniture and furniture miniatures, silver, and ceramics collections at Colonial Williamsburg. Totaling more 400 objects of diverse media, the Hennage Drove also includes paintings, prints, and antique toy animals, vehicles, and figures. To laurels this significant bequest, an exhibition of highlighted objects from the heritance, A Gift to the Nation: The Joseph and June Hennage Collection, will open at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, one of the recently expanded Fine art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, in the leap.

"Joe and June Hennage ever sought objects of excellent quality and condition. Their gift consequently comes equally an outstanding improver to Colonial Williamsburg'due south collections. It includes superior examples of piece of furniture from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, likewise every bit silver by the major East Declension artisans of that 24-hour interval and a diverseness of other materials," said Ronald L. Hurst, the Foundation'due south Carlisle H. Humelsine main curator and vice president for museums, preservation, and historic resources. "The Hennages' determination to place the entire collection in a museum setting is a clear instance of their public-spirited generosity."

A Honey Thing Begins

In 1945 after being discharged from the U.s. Navy, Joe Hennage (1921–2010) returned to Washington, D.C. and before long thereafter founded Hennage Creative Printers. When he found himself in need of secretarial help in 1946, he hired June Stedman (1927–2020) who had come up to Washington to brainstorm her career after finishing school in Virginia. They were married in 1947 and their partnership blossomed. In the late 1940s they made their first visit to Colonial Williamsburg, and their life-long love for the celebrated metropolis began. Their first collecting passion was not antiques, only memorabilia relating to Joe'south hero, Benjamin Franklin, and books on printing, the profession the two men shared. June's beloved of minor objects extended to what she and Joe referred to as 'penny toys', or miniature animals, vehicles and figures, besides as miniature furniture, including tables, chests, chairs, and beds. By the early 1950s, they were also collecting antique Chinese bronzes, porcelain, snuff bottles, and netsuke. Although they did non begin attending the almanac Antiques Forum, which began at Colonial Williamsburg in 1949, until later in the 1950s and more than regularly in the 1960s, Joe oftentimes named this event as a slap-up influence on them both. In 1965, Joe was asked to serve on the Fine Arts Committee of the Land Department, a group formed to assist White House and State Department Curator Cloudless Conger in raising funds for the architectural renovation and furnishing of the diplomatic reception rooms and remained a member and sometime chairman of the Committee until 1996. By the early 1970s, the Hennages were collecting American antiques with increased fervor and attention Antiques Forum regularly.

"Joe and June were built-in-again patriots and their excitement in being American was demonstrated by their passion for American article of furniture in the 18th century," said John A. Hays, deputy chairman, Christie's, Inc. "They loved furniture that made a big statement, and their collection includes many pieces that boldly say 'I am American.'"

The Love Affair Blossoms

High Chest, Philadelphia, ca. 1770, mahogany, sabicu, xanthous pino, and tulip poplar (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, bequest of Joseph and June Hennage, 1989-450).

Over the years Joe and June gave the Land Department several exquisite pieces of American article of furniture and helped to transform the Land Department diplomatic reception rooms significantly. Joe'south interest with this effort led to his existence asked to head similar Americana drives for the National Archives and for the Supreme Court. During the Bicentennial yr, the Hennage's philanthropic spirit provided numerous extraordinary gifts of important objects to various American institutions including Mount Vernon, Monticello, the White Firm, the National Portrait Gallery, and Colonial Williamsburg among others. The Hennages shared these gifts with such institutions, which are amongst the finest examples of American craftsmanship at its highest levels, non simply because they are masterpieces but in hopes of enhancing the public's education virtually its cloth culture. Although gardening was among June's greatest pleasures, her interest in and deep knowledge of art and antiques led to her also serving as a fellow member of the Department of State Fine Arts Committee.

Colonial Williamsburg, withal remained a special place to both Joe and June where they could learn most and relive American historical events, and this unique interest caused them to apply their resource to help the Foundation flourish. They became charter and life members of the Foundation's highest-level almanac giving group, the Raleigh Tavern Guild, as well equally members of the President'due south Council, a group defended to nurturing greater sensation of Colonial Williamsburg through philanthropic support. In 1985, the Hennage Auditorium at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, i of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, was named in their accolade, and in 2019, the Foundation named a new gallery in the same museum the June Stedman Hennage Gallery in honour of June's 90th birthday. Past 1988, the Hennages completed a Georgian-style home in Williamsburg, which they named Hennage House, and they made this their domicile afterward relocating from Chevy Hunt, Maryland. This habitation was where they lived with their extensive collections and viewed themselves as the custodians of the objects rather than their owners. Over fourth dimension, they gave them to Colonial Williamsburg for safekeeping.

"Colonial Williamsburg inspires united states of america all over fourth dimension, but some take the bulletin to new heights. That is true for Joe and June Hennage whose Georgian-style firm on South England Street reflects the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg and whose stunning collection of masterpieces inside—the article of furniture in particular—carries the analogy to conclusion," said Philip Zea, president and CEO, Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts, and sometime curator of article of furniture at Colonial Williamsburg from 1999 to 2001. "The Hennages' meaning legacy and generosity secure their presence in Williamsburg and brand it possible to use the present tense when we recall about them for some fourth dimension to come."

The Love Endures

Joe and June Hennage's passion for their American decorative arts and for Colonial Williamsburg led to the conclusion to bestow their unabridged collection to the Foundation upon their deaths because they believed in Colonial Williamsburg's unique ability to understand the objects' significance to American history and make that story accessible to all. Their boggling aggregation of material culture is transformative. Already renowned for having the best in British and American fine and decorative arts from 1670–1840, the Wallace Museum will at present make its article of furniture drove consummate in its ability to show the total geographic spectrum from Maine to Louisiana through peak pieces from major Due east Coast centers. Knowing of this promised gift has also helped to shape the American silver collection over the past decade equally acquisitions were fabricated with the Hennage collection in mind; these objects volition now serve every bit the backbone of Colonial Williamsburg'due south American argent holdings. The Hennage Chinese consign porcelain objects volition provide the Foundation with the get-go pieces from two different services bearing the insignia of the Gild of the Cincinnati, a congenial system of American and French officers who served in the Revolutionary War. The miniature furniture from the heritance volition almost double the number of pieces currently in Colonial Williamsburg's drove (split up from its doll house furniture and child'due south chairs) and these objects, too, will be transformative in the variation of forms include in the Hennage collection, which includes blanket chests, chest of drawers, a loftier chest, a desk, chairs, tables, looking glasses, beds, and tall case clocks, too as the infrequent quality of many of the pieces. These are but a few examples of how this bequest will significantly enhance the way in which the Fine art Museums can interpret America'south enduring story for its visitors each year.

Co-ordinate to Erik Thousand. Gronning, Senior Vice President, Senior Specialist and Head of Americana Department at Sotheby'due south, the Hennages formed "a collection for the ages assembled during the zenith of the 1970s and 1980s collecting menses. With smashing advisors, such as the State of israel Sack firm, they acquired many American masterpieces. Their passion for their drove never ceased; information technology wasn't just a passing fancy for them…. They were amidst the very first people to build a new home in menstruation style to display their drove to its fullest. They did information technology all and didn't leave a stone unturned. They were ardent supporters of scholarship, and they believed it was their responsibility to farther the knowledge about Americana and American history."

As many have said, Joe and June Hennage were rare people and it was a privilege to know and larn from them. Their dedication to American decorative arts was immense, and their beloved of America even more then. Through this extraordinary bequest, this collection will live on for generations to come, and visitors to Colonial Williamsburg will have the opportunity to deepen their appreciation through these summit objects of material culture.

Additional information on detail pieces, including the objects pictured hither, is available from this press release addressing highlights of the collection.

5-piece Garniture, Jingdezhen, China, ca. 1785, difficult-paste porcelain
(Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, bequest of Joseph and June Hennage)

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Notation (added 12 January 2021) — The original posting did not include the prototype of the 5-slice garniture.

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Source: https://enfilade18thc.com/2021/01/13/

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